2019 Tacoma limited disappointment

I have no sympathy for people who buy a $40,000+ truck without test driving it. This seems to be a reoccurring complaint about the truck, but it’s more about the buyer.

 

I'm assuming it has fixed the senseless gear hunting but has it fixed the dead petal syndrome?

 

I think the dead spot was from the transmission being in a high gear when I chose to accelerate so the engine bogs. Haven’t felt that since the install.

 

Did you ever drive your truck with ECT enabled?

 

ECT and sport mode help a little but it's not great. OV Tune is the only real fix. It's drives like it should drive when you buy it from Toyota.

 

I drove it with the ECT activated and in sport mode. That helped but the shift sense pro works better. The OV tune was 700 bucks so I tried this first. I’m happy with it.

 

Hahahaha, welcome to the new world of the 19' POS Tacoma! I have been fussing about a defect with mine since day one with my dealer and Toyota. Mine does the same things you describe except I have the added pleasure of a significant shuttering and hesitation. This 19' power train package is a TOTAL JOKE! Mine is at 5,000 (going into day for the first service) and it is still shuttering and bogging down. I also have a new Equinox (4 cylinder / automatic) and it is smooth as glass as well. It boils back down to a group of dumbazz "so-called" engineers designing and engine/transmission combo that is a POS just to satisfy the CAFE and EPA regulations and it is EXTREMELY OBVIOUS that they put very little effort into it. They should only offer the 4 banger with a manual transmission, there would be far less complaints for sure. Only advice I have is; trade the POS off as soon as you can like I'm working on doing. I'm just biding my time right now trying to build some equity to hopefully get to a place where I can unload this thing without losing my azz.

 

Try the shift sense pro. It made a big difference in the way mine performed. It’s a different truck.

 

I've had a 1st gen, 2nd gen and now a 3rd gen for almost 3 years. I love the 3rd gen but I do think Toyota dropped the ball on gearing the autos on these trucks. These trucks are over geared from the factory. 5th and 6th are both overdrive gears and the drop to 4th is a big one. I will say the TSB did help but can't hide the fact that the truck is simply over geared. Combine that with an engine that makes it torque up high and you have these issues. Look at how low your RPM is when in 6th on the highway. Add in a weird, complicated ECU that manages the trans in a very complex manner and you get the frustration. OV tune makes a big difference and then 4.88 gears but most don't want to drop money on the gears. Another cheaper option is the SSP.

 

I have the same problems with my SR5. I notice when either A) it stays in a lower gear too long or just randomly downshifts when I'm driving and B) I've noticed the same thing with cruise control doing about 75mph. It gets way up there on the RPM's when I'm going over a slight hill or something. It's like it's worried about getting back to my set speed too quickly.

These are all problems that I was aware of prior to my purchase, and I'm trusting that it will work itself out as I put more miles on. Only at 1200 currently, so it's to be expected I think.

 

This might seem like a dumb question, but you don't have any concerns using aftermarket products on something like your transmission? Or in this case an aspect of your transmission?

 

https://www.ovtuned.com/blogs/news/...-tacoma-transmission-and-how-we-are-fixing-it

 

It won’t hurt the transmission. It just holds the shifting longer and keeps it in the best gear for the speed. No more 6 gear at 40 mph.

 

Exactly. I really like the truck. Fit and finish is excellent. I like the ride quality only the performance is a problem. If I had the money I would have gone with the OV tune

 

Cool. Thanks for the feedback.

 

No. Im probably not the one to answer your question however my understanding is the tune basically rewrites the ECU to shift the transmission more efficiently and change the power band to be more even through the RPMs. No more hunting for gears and the overly obvious dead pedal syndrome is no longer an issue. It does nothing to physically change the transmission it just tells it to do and what its capable of doing and should have originally been programmed to do from Toyota. Its undetectable to you're service provider or dealership but if it's a worry then just deactivate it with a few click of your laptop before you take it in but my dealer has not detected mine.

 

Just go check the OV thread and see what others are saying

 

Thank you. Great read and was easy enough to understand. My main takeaway is that Ovtune will be my next addition, and What were the engineers at Toyota thinking?!. "If it aint broke, don't fix it"

Thanks for the answer regardless. Someone linked an article up top that covered it pretty extensively. Also after commenting, I found the main thread on it.